The letter, dated 20 April 1954, pertains to the “Hire Purchase of one Hotpoint Refrigerator”. It was issued by General Refrigeration Company to Mr Loh Yam Song (Loh Jin Hwee), owner of the bicycle shop, Song Seng Chan. The fridge was installed in the living room on the upper floor of the two-storey shophouse located at 436 Joo Chiat Road. The upper floor was the living quarters for the Loh family while the ground floor housed the bicycle shop. The fridge was purchased for $1,151 and paid in installments over a period of twelve months, starting from September 1952. The letter confirmed that Mr Loh had made full payment for the fridge which he bought through hire purchase. This is part of a set of six documents related to the purchase of a Hotpoint fridge, which comprise a delivery note, hire purchase agreement, statement of account, official receipt, credit note and letter confirming full payment of the fridge. It gives us a fairly complete picture of an example of buying of a highly-priced consumer product through hire purchase, which took place barely seven years after the war. The artefacts form an important resource for the study of the social economic practices of a middle class family in Singapore in the early 1950s, which in turn aids in profiling consumer habits.
